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LifeNets Agricultural Project Posted September 7, 2010 Wordsworth Rashid interviews Alfred Gama and writes this report: Alfred Gama is one of LifeNets grant recipients. He lives at Kabwabwa in area 25 in Lilongwe. He lost both his parents 3 years ago. He has some relatives who do not have any employment. They are dependents to Alfred for income and food Alfred is the source of income for the family. He is really a hardworking young man who stays alone in his field 12 hours daily.
I spared some time to interview Alfred on LifeNets help he received the interview was in vernacular and here is the translation: What are you doing? I am growing crops on irrigation basis such maize, tomatoes and beans. I also grow some sugarcane in one side of my garden. When did you start? This project dates back to the year 2000. By then I used to grow with my parents but we were doing it without following the good methods in farming. I was working very hard but the success was never seen and I could not manage to expand this project. It looks like you facing a lot of challenge? Oh! Yes I was growing maize without fertilizer applications, the farm tools and other equipment were not there for me to effectively work. I was using the local blends of crops hence low harvest and slow development. I faced some difficult times because it was like I was working without benefits at all. Excuse me! Do you still have these problems? No! It’s minimal today. The challenges are not as before because of the help I got from the NGO called LifeNets in the year 2000. What kind of help and briefly explain how
the funds were spent? I received from LifeNets a grant of MK100,000 $714. These funds were used to buy some farm inputs like fertilizer seeds, treadle pump (Manual water pump) sprayer, gumboots, hoes, pangas and labor. Can you tell any success? Yes! The success is there because when I go to the market with my crops I sale with a good profit four times what I was getting before. Many achievements have been made so far like buying of a bicycle which I am using to go to the garden each and every day. My siblings all depend on this project for food and income. From last year’s harvest, I was able to buy fertilizer and seeds on my own for 2010 growing season Did you receive any additional help from LifeNets? I received another MK100,000 which I requested to construct a dam. The dam will be storing some water for dry planting. The dam is still under construction and there is need to dig a little deeper for long life water storage.
I just want to expand the project by increasing the depth of the dam and then later on construct another dam to give room for fish keeping which is becoming a profitable business these days. The dam helps to have three growing seasons instead of one How committed are you to your project? I work from sunrise to sunset and the grant motivated me to think of becoming popular with my irrigation farming. I do not want to disappoint my donors but rather show them that I really appreciate what I have from them
Any additions Yes of course, it won’t be any good at all if I go without my vote of thanks to our local LifeNets representative for the kind heart shown ever since I came to know about LifeNets. THANK YOU!
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What
are your future plans?
